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FILM REAL | The Summer Blockbuster · The Recess Bell

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  Speaker 1: This production is brought to you by the Recess Bell.
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  Speaker 2: Hey everybody, my name is Justin Greenberg and this is
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  Speaker 2: the Film Reel right here on the Recess Bell Network.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm recording this in early June, and it got
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  Speaker 2: me thinking about summer movies and just how much of
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  Speaker 2: a love I had for the summer movie season growing up,
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  Speaker 2: and as an adult, I just don't feel like I
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  Speaker 2: have that same passion for these months, you know, the June,
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  Speaker 2: the July, the August, for these.
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  Speaker 1: Movies that I once had.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm gonna explain why that is, and maybe this
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  Speaker 2: is something that could possibly change. So let's get into
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  Speaker 2: it summer movies on this edition of Film Reel. Let's
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  Speaker 2: start off with the history of the summer blockbuster. But
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  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna get too much into that, because what
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  Speaker 2: I like about this show is it's personal stories. I
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  Speaker 2: wasn't around in nineteen seventy five, but most people would
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  Speaker 2: say that the first blockbuster, the first summer blockbuster, was
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  Speaker 2: Jews and it was a phenomenon. You talk to anybody
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  Speaker 2: that grew up in that summer of seventy five, they
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  Speaker 2: just talked about how much fear they had of the Ocean,
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  Speaker 2: and the people were saying, you gotta see this movie.
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  Speaker 2: You gotta see this movie, and it gained such a
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  Speaker 2: steam and momentum and it ushered in a new age
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  Speaker 2: of cinema and I love that film. In fact, this year,
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  Speaker 2: celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, I did have the pleasure of
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  Speaker 2: getting to see this movie on the big screen. Just
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  Speaker 2: a few years ago, they re released it and I
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  Speaker 2: got to watch it on an Imax screen. It's a beautiful,
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  Speaker 2: beautiful film with some of the best acting from any
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  Speaker 2: film from the seventies. I'll put Joe's acting up there
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  Speaker 2: with stuff like The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse, Now, all
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  Speaker 2: those great iconic movies from the seventies. The acting in
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  Speaker 2: Jaws is that damn good and it was a spectacle.
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  Speaker 2: It was something that you need to see.
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  Speaker 3: There is a creature alive today who has survived millions
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  Speaker 3: of years of evolution, without change, without passion, and without logic.
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  Speaker 3: It lives to kill, a mindless eating machine. It will
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  Speaker 3: attack and devour anything. It is as if God created
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  Speaker 3: the devil and gave him Jaws.
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  Speaker 2: Now, a few years later, George Lucas would amp that
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  Speaker 2: up with Star Wars which became the highest grossing movie
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  Speaker 2: of all time, and this trend would continue. Most of
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  Speaker 2: the Star Wars movies released moving forward would get a
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  Speaker 2: May release.
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  Speaker 4: Somewhere in space. This may all be happening right now.
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  Speaker 4: Twentieth century Fonts and George Lucas, The Man Who'd browne
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  Speaker 4: You a Man? And Graffiti now bring you an adventure
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  Speaker 4: unlike anything on your planet. Star Wars hit up. How
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  Speaker 4: do you do the story of a boy, a girl
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  Speaker 4: and a universe Star Wars a billion years in the making,
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  Speaker 4: and it's coming to your galaxy this summer.
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  Speaker 2: For me, the nineteen eighties is my It's my absolute
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  Speaker 2: favorite decade for film, and there was a few summers
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  Speaker 2: that I wish I was around to witness and get
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  Speaker 2: to see these movies on the big screen. Let's go
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  Speaker 2: back to nineteen eighty two, which a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: think is the best year for movies, but let's focus
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  Speaker 2: specific on the summer season. Let's start off with the
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  Speaker 2: number one movie that year, which would actually surpass Star
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  Speaker 2: Wars and become the highest grossing movie of all time
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  Speaker 2: for a number of years, and now would be another
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  Speaker 2: Spielberg movie. We were talking about Jaws earlier let's talk
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  Speaker 2: about ET the Extraterrestrial. And I've talked about this movie
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  Speaker 2: quite a bit. I think it's absolutely perfection. I have
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  Speaker 2: it in my top three favorite movies of all time.
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  Speaker 2: John Williams music in it is a masterpiece. The child acting,
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  Speaker 2: it's so good. It's so important to have good child actors.
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  Speaker 2: If they're gonna be the focal point of your story,
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  Speaker 2: the kids better be good at acting. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: let's go back to Star Wars. Star Wars Episode one,
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  Speaker 2: one of the worst child acting performances of all time.
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  Speaker 2: And I don't even blame the kid. I blame the casting,
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  Speaker 2: I blame the direction, I blame the script. But Jake
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  Speaker 2: Lloyd was horrendous as Anakin Skywalker now Elliott played by
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  Speaker 2: Henry Thomas, and Et was just so realistic and relatable
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  Speaker 2: and felt authentic and such great acting. And Drew Barrymore
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  Speaker 2: as Gerty, another phenomenal child acting performance, really adds to
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  Speaker 2: many of the reasons as to why ET is just
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  Speaker 2: one of my favorite movies of all time. It was
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  Speaker 2: definitely something that you had to watch in the summer.
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  Speaker 2: But I want to reiterate this point, movies today have
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  Speaker 2: such a short shelf life on the big screen. You know,
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  Speaker 2: you watch something on the big screen, within a few
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  Speaker 2: weeks it's already on streaming. And that's been a huge
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  Speaker 2: problem for cinemas. That's a reason why, one of the
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  Speaker 2: many reasons why I in my opinion, that movie theaters
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  Speaker 2: are failing, it's because there's no real threat in a sense,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's the right word, but there's
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  Speaker 2: no real like you have to see this in the theaters.
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  Speaker 1: Because if a movie like Star.
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  Speaker 2: Wars came out in nineteen seventy seven, right, you had
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  Speaker 2: to see that in the movies. You know, you might
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  Speaker 2: be lucky, it might be on TV in a year
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  Speaker 2: or two years, three years, but you were going to
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  Speaker 2: be able to rent it. You certainly obviously weren't going
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  Speaker 2: to be able to stream it. You know, VCRs and
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  Speaker 2: Beta Max. Nobody really had these things until really the
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  Speaker 2: mid to late eighties is when it became more of
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  Speaker 2: a commonplace. But even into the early eighties, if you
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  Speaker 2: were to see something, it really had to be on
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  Speaker 2: the big screen or else you weren't going to be
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  Speaker 2: able to see it again unless you know, NBC or
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  Speaker 2: ABC or any of these companies got the rights to
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  Speaker 2: show it on TV. You weren't going to be able
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  Speaker 2: to watch these films nowadays, Like I was saying, if
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  Speaker 2: you watch something on the big screen a few weeks
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  Speaker 2: from now, it's going to be on Disney. Plus it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be on Netflix, and that takes away some
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  Speaker 2: of the necessary I need to see this in theater
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  Speaker 2: sort of rush that you get. Let's go back to
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty two, because this is such an amazing year
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  Speaker 2: for movies. Some of the movies that came out that
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  Speaker 2: summer weren't that big of hits, but they were still fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: I just want to say one other thing about you know,
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  Speaker 2: not necessarily need to see these movies in the summer.
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  Speaker 2: Movies would also be in theaters for such a long time.
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  Speaker 2: E t was still the number one movie by the
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  Speaker 2: time of Thanksgiving rolled around. I mean, that would never
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  Speaker 2: happen today. Like I was saying, movies have such a
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  Speaker 2: short shelf life, which is a very difficult sentence to say.
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  Speaker 1: But look at a movie that becomes.
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  Speaker 2: The number one movie in twenty twenty five, when I'm
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  Speaker 2: recording this podcast, it's very rare for it to be
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  Speaker 2: the number one movie for the second weekend and very
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  Speaker 2: very rare for it to be relevant within five six weeks,
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  Speaker 2: and usually it's pushed out of theaters by the seventh week.
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  Speaker 2: And that's talking about like a really well you know,
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  Speaker 2: received movie. Sometimes these movies get a week two weeks.
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  Speaker 2: If it's failing, they're gonna pull it immediately from theaters.
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  Speaker 2: And that's not a good thing because sometimes it takes
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  Speaker 2: word of mouth to get a movie going. Now, there
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  Speaker 2: are exceptions to the rule. Something like Barbie or something
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  Speaker 2: like Wicked, you know, has a very long shelf life
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  Speaker 2: and might get a re release here and there. But
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  Speaker 2: for the most part, a lot of these movies have
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  Speaker 2: their relevancy and their trending, and they're popular for two
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  Speaker 2: three weeks and then the next thing comes out. But
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  Speaker 2: back in the day, something like Star Wars or et
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  Speaker 2: or Raiders of the Lost Ark, they would be in
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  Speaker 2: theaters for half a year, nine months, ten months because
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  Speaker 2: there was no video release, there was no streaming.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's go back to nineteen eighty two.
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  Speaker 2: Let's see some of these big movies that came out
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  Speaker 2: that summer. The Road Warrior. Wo what a movie. What
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  Speaker 2: a sequel? Mad Max? Great movie, Mad Max two, even better?
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  Speaker 2: And again not a successful movie, though it ended up
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  Speaker 2: being the twenty seventh highest grossing movie for the domestic
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  Speaker 2: box office for the summer of nineteen eighty two, but
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  Speaker 2: one of those iconic movies that gets talked about forty
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  Speaker 2: plus years later. They're still making Mad Max movies all
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  Speaker 2: these years later. Another one, not a big hit, but
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  Speaker 2: certainly culturally it's one of the most important movies. I
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  Speaker 2: think the quintessential high school film, and that would be
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  Speaker 2: Fast Times at Ridgemont High. One of the best movies
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  Speaker 2: of all time coming out in the summer of nineteen
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  Speaker 2: eighty two. That one came out.
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  Speaker 1: In August of eighty two.
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  Speaker 2: How about this, we were talking about Raiders of the Lost
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  Speaker 2: Arc that actually was re released that year, So Spielberg
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  Speaker 2: having the number one movie with ETV Extraterrestrial his previous
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  Speaker 2: hit from the year prior.
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  Speaker 1: Raiders of the Lost Arc did get a re release.
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  Speaker 2: In July of that year, and it actually cracked the
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  Speaker 2: top twenty five movies for the domestic box office for
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  Speaker 2: the summer of nineteen eighty two, which is just absolutely amazing.
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  Speaker 2: Let's just quickly rattle off some of these other big
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  Speaker 2: movies from a summer of nineteen eighty two. Rocky three
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  Speaker 2: my personal favorite of the Rocky sequels. What a Juggernaut,
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  Speaker 2: really catapulting Hulk Hogan into superstardom, cementing mister t as
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  Speaker 2: a megastar, and Stalloane was on top of the world
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  Speaker 2: with Rocky three. It's the Eye of the Freaking Tiger Baby.
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  Speaker 2: Horror movie The Poltergeist was the number four highest grossing
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  Speaker 2: movie for that summer. Star Trek to the Wrath of Khan.
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  Speaker 2: Not a Star Trek guy, but most Star Trek fans
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  Speaker 2: say this is the best Star Trek movie. Conan the
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  Speaker 2: Barbarian we were talking about Saloon. How about his counterpart,
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  Speaker 2: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Conan the Barbarian was the number nine highest
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  Speaker 2: grossing movie for the domestic box office for the summer
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  Speaker 2: of nineteen eighty two. One of my favorite movies came
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  Speaker 2: out June twenty fifth of nineteen eighty two, and that
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  Speaker 2: would be The Thing, John Carpenter's The Thing, which you know, wasn't.
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  Speaker 1: Really that big of a hit. It made let's.
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  Speaker 2: See, around twenty million dollars domestically, but again, you know
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  Speaker 2: that that necessarily wasn't that big of a failure because
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  Speaker 2: these movies didn't cost nearly as much to make, so
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  Speaker 2: if a movie made twenty million dollars in today's day
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  Speaker 2: and age would be considered an absolute flop. Re releases
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  Speaker 2: were huge, Like I was saying, you wouldn't be able
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  Speaker 2: to get to watch these movies unless they were played
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  Speaker 2: on television. So Disney in particular would always re release
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  Speaker 2: its classics. And Bambi was re released June fourth of
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty two and crack the top fifteen highest grossing
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  Speaker 2: movies for that summer. Something like that would never happen.
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  Speaker 2: The thing, Like we mentioned an influential sci fi film,
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  Speaker 2: how about Blade Runner coming out also on June twenty fifth,
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  Speaker 2: the same day as the thing. Listen to this, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: just how insane this month of June is. You had Poltergeist,
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  Speaker 2: Star Trek two e t the re release of Bambi,
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  Speaker 2: Blade Runner, the thing. I mean, you just had Rocky
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  Speaker 2: three coming out the end of May. It's wild. All
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  Speaker 2: these hits and all these things, for the most part,
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  Speaker 2: have stood the test of time. You know, Hollywood's still
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  Speaker 2: using these properties. Right, Let's actually go through this. Let's
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  Speaker 2: see what Hollywood is still touching. Within the last fifteen
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  Speaker 2: twenty years. So e T thankfully has never had a sequel,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm blessed that they haven't. Rocky they still make
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  Speaker 2: Creed movies. They just had the Creed three. They're always
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  Speaker 2: making new Star Trek stuff, new TV shows, new movies. Poltergeist,
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  Speaker 2: I believe, did get a remake maybe ten years ago
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  Speaker 2: or so. Conan and the Barbarian also had a remake,
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  Speaker 2: maybe fifteen years ago or so. Blade Runner did have
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  Speaker 2: a sequel a few years ago, Friday the thirteenth. They
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  Speaker 2: haven't made one in a while, but they're always gonna
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  Speaker 2: keep on pumping those out. Tron came out in the
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  Speaker 2: summer of nineteen eighty two. There's a new Tron coming
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  Speaker 2: out this year as I'm recording, in twenty twenty five.
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  Speaker 2: So it's just funny that, you know, The Road Warrior
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  Speaker 2: came out. They just had another Mad Max movie. It's
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  Speaker 2: wild that some of these movies that came out almost
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  Speaker 2: fifty years ago at this point are still influencing modern cinema.
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  Speaker 2: So nineteen eighty two an amazing summer. Let's go over
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  Speaker 2: one other summer real quick, and now'd be the summer
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  Speaker 2: of nineteen eighty seven, which I don't think is nearly
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  Speaker 2: as good as nineteen eighty two. But I've seen this
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  Speaker 2: image online of a marquee of a movie theater from
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty seven, and it shows three movies all being
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  Speaker 2: played at the same time, and it's three of my
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  Speaker 2: favorite movies of all time. And now'd be Predator, RoboCop,
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  Speaker 2: and The Lost Boys, three iconic eighties properties, and they
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  Speaker 2: were all playing at the same time. Also coming out
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  Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty seven for that summer, you had some
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  Speaker 2: iconic comedies, which is something that we're severely lacking. The
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  Speaker 2: Adventures in Babysitting and Summer School. How about this Spaceball's
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  Speaker 2: also coming out, the Steve Martin classic Rock sand The
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  Speaker 2: number one highest grossing movie for that summer was Beverly
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  Speaker 2: Hills Cop two. So I mean, comedies were on fire
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  Speaker 2: in the eighties. It's such as damn shame that we
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  Speaker 2: just don't get that anymore. But let's add to my
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  Speaker 2: personal stories and why I love well, should I say why?
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  Speaker 2: I loved the summer box office season, and I always
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  Speaker 2: looked forward to this season more so than any season
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  Speaker 2: for watching movies nowadays, not as much. I tend to
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  Speaker 2: like the November to December. I just think those months
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  Speaker 2: put out better movies. And let's start off with some
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  Speaker 2: reasons why, in my opinion, I'm not a big fan
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  Speaker 2: of the modern you know, summer blockbuster, and then we'll
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  Speaker 2: get into some personal stories of some of my favorite
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  Speaker 2: memories of watching movies during the summer. So I think
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  Speaker 2: a big factor is when I was growing up, there
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  Speaker 2: were certain months that there were just shitty movies being released,
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  Speaker 2: and you weren't going to get anything that was going
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  Speaker 2: to gross over one hundred million dollars in January and
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  Speaker 2: February and March, and those are usually the dumping grounds
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  Speaker 2: that studios would put out their movies that they knew
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  Speaker 2: probably weren't going to be that successful. That has changed.
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  Speaker 2: I've noticed in the last ten years February has been
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  Speaker 2: a very big month for movies. Deadpool came out there,
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  Speaker 2: Jordan Peel has released movies in February, The Black Panther
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  Speaker 2: movies have come out in February. So now we're getting
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  Speaker 2: big budget, you know, high box office you know, receipts
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  Speaker 2: throughout not just January and February, but every single month
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  Speaker 2: could have a big hit. So that takes away the
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  Speaker 2: specialty of the summer box office. You weren't going to
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  Speaker 2: usually get a big action movie in February back in
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  Speaker 2: the day.
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  Speaker 1: Now you do.
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  Speaker 2: Also, the summer season I think starts even earlier and earlier.
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  Speaker 2: When I was growing up, May, you know, Memorial Day
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  Speaker 2: weekend usually was the start of that summer box office.
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  Speaker 2: Now you're getting gigantic properties in April, sometimes in March
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  Speaker 2: that normally always would have been a June July release.
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  Speaker 2: You know when I saw Batman v. Superman, which was
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  Speaker 2: a terrible movie, but that got released in March, and
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  Speaker 2: that was a telltale sign that things have changed that
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  Speaker 2: studios aren't necessarily needing a June or July release to
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  Speaker 2: crack you know, five hundred million, six hundred million, a
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  Speaker 2: billion dollars. The Avengers movies, a lot of them have
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  Speaker 2: come out in April, which again wasn't always the biggest
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  Speaker 2: month when I was a kid. Yeah, you get a few,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Easter type of hits, but usually it was May, June, July,
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  Speaker 2: that's when the big ones came out. I also think
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  Speaker 2: a reason why I personally don't care for these movies.
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  Speaker 2: I think everything's been done and we're regurgitating the same
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  Speaker 2: plot the same movies. Literally, actually the same movies are
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  Speaker 2: just getting remade shot for shot, and I've talked about
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  Speaker 2: that a lot, so I don't want to get too
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  Speaker 2: much into that on this show. But I'm sort of
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  Speaker 2: sick of these over the top CGI slopfests. There's no originality.
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  Speaker 2: Every action sequence has been done already.
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  Speaker 4: You know.
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  Speaker 2: All these movies end the same. There's a portal in
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  Speaker 2: the sky and the interdimensional creature goes through it, and
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  Speaker 2: then there's a giant battle with one army on one
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  Speaker 2: side and the other army on the other side, and
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  Speaker 2: they run together and they collide, and it's like, how
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  Speaker 2: many movies have we seen that have had that? I
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  Speaker 2: tend to like these story driven types of movies a
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  Speaker 2: lot more, and those movies don't get released in June
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  Speaker 2: and July.
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  Speaker 4: You know.
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  Speaker 2: I like the Oscar type of movies, movies like the
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  Speaker 2: Holdovers that came out a few years ago. Maybe something
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  Speaker 2: that doesn't have any computer generated images.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I never would have thought i'd be that way. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not saying I don't like action movies. I don't like
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  Speaker 2: a superhero movie. I do when it's done right of
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  Speaker 2: course I do. I'd be lying to you.
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  Speaker 1: If it said I don't like these movies. I do.
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  Speaker 2: I loved Guardians of the Galaxy three. I love those
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  Speaker 2: latest Avengers movies. I thought they were fantastic, must watch
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  Speaker 2: in movie theaters. I like the John Wick series. I
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  Speaker 2: like these movies. They just need to do something original,
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  Speaker 2: or it needs to be a spectacle that hasn't been seen,
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  Speaker 2: and unfortunately we've seen it all.
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  Speaker 1: But let's go.
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  Speaker 2: Back to the past to talk about my personal experience
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  Speaker 2: with these movies. The first true summer movie I remember
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  Speaker 2: seeing would be Jurassic Park, which is something that I
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  Speaker 2: just remember being so hyped for. I remember staying home
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  Speaker 2: from school one day and watching a news broadcast about
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  Speaker 2: Jurassic Park.
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  Speaker 5: This fascination with dinosaurs is bound to get a boost
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  Speaker 5: next month with the release of a much touted.
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  Speaker 6: Motion picture, William to Jurassic Park.
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  Speaker 5: Jurassic Park is the ultimate theme park where the dinosaurs
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: are real and out of control.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: Yes, I must figure out how.
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: Factor fiction. The dinosaur craze has a firm grip on
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: our imaginations.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: And I was four and a half years old, and
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: this is some of my earliest memories. I was all
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: in on Jurassic Park that summer, and it didn't end
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: when the movie ended. I got books, I got action figures,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: I got freaking chapstick. I literally got Chapstick with a
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: velociraptor head, and I remember eating that chapstick and no,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: you're not supposed to eat chapstick, but I was four
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: and a half years old and it was delicious.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: I have a Jurassic Park.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Wallet to this day in my little toy room that
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: I got when I was a kid. So Jurassic Park
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: fever was everywhere, and I remember being so hyped for
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: that film, and I do wish I was just a
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: little bit older so I could really remember all of it.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: But I do have those early memories of sitting in
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: that theater and being in awe and being in fear,
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: and you know, just witnessing a masterpiece on the big screen.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: A few years later, the sequel would come out, Jurassic
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Park The Lost World, which I know I have talked
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: about on various different podcasts, but I really like that movie,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: and I know that's in the minority. Most people tend
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: to not like that movie, but I think I was
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: just the right age when that came out, and I
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: think it's actually visually really impressive, and John Williams score
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: is also fantastic. Is it as good as the first one?
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Of course it's not. It's a dumb down summer blockbuster
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: movie where the first one was more cerebral and more
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: thought provoking. But I still like that and do have
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: fond memories of seeing Jurassic Park two The Lost World
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: in theaters. But let's travel back a year prior, so
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Jurassic Park to the Lost World came out in ninety seven.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: In ninety six, there was a big one that came out,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: and that would be Independence Day. And you know, sometimes
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: you don't remember all of the movie, but you remember moments,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: and you remember maybe things leading up to seeing the
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: movie or after the movie what happened. And I remember
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: seeing this one with my grandma and my cousin Stephanie,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: and I remember the exact theater. It was a theater
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: that was in Lawrence, New York, and it's no longer there,
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: but I remember being.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Outside of that theater.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: It was a hot summer day and it was a
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: packed crowd, and this was before you could reserve seat,
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: so you had to get there before the movie started.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Sometimes an hour, an hour and twenty minutes, an hour
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: and a half before the movie started, because you wanted
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: that good seat or you wanted us seat. Sometimes that
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: you know the damn movie would be sold out. But
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: I remember watching that movie and the one moment I
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: remember from that movie is there's a scene where they're
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: doing an autopsy on one of the aliens and the
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: alien makes this loud sound and scares the entire audience.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I can remember that being the first jump scare that
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: I actually remember, because I remember that reaction from the
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: whole crowd of being frightened by what they thought was
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: a dead alien making a loud noise when its exo
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: suit was cut open.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: Run this right easy.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: At that very same theater. The year prior to Independence
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Day was a movie called Mortal Kombat. And these movies
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: I was so hyped for them, and we did a
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: whole episode on Mortal Kombat. It was one of the
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: earlier episodes of the film reel. But Mortal Kombat was
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: again one of those movies like Jurassic Park, where I
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: was absorbing all of it.
• 22:57
  Speaker 7: Now.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I was a fan of the property. I loved the
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Mortal Combat video games, but I remember staying up and
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: watching behind the scenes featurettes. They would have stuff on television.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: It would be the making of Mortal Kombat, and we
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: would record it on our VCR and I would just
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: rewatch it over and over again. And I remember going
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: to that very same Lawrence movie theater with my dad
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: and my brother and.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Loving the movie. We loved the movie.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: I could still remember the popcorn bag had Goro on it,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: who was one of the characters from Mortal Kombat. It's
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: this iconic image of him in the shadows, and it's
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: definitely a poster. I want to get that specific same
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: image of Goro. It does exist, but I don't know.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: It's just one of those things I remember. I remember,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: you know, back to Jurassic Park, you know, the sequel
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: to The Lost World. I remember the standee. They had
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: cardboard cutouts. You know, if you go to any movie theater,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: you see these large cardboard standees. And I remember the
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: cardboard cutouts for you know, Jurassic Park, the Lost World.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I remember these velociraptors really frightening me before seeing the movie.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I also remember this when seeing The Lost World. I
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: remember seeing a popcorn bucket for Titanic, because Titanic was
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: originally supposed to come out that summer, but because of
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: some issues that were going on with the filming, it
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: got pushed back to December, and it became the highest
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: grossing movie of all time. But I remember seeing that bucket,
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: you know, saying summer of nineteen ninety seven. So it's
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: little things like that, you know. After seeing Mortal Kombat,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: I remember the discussions I had with my dad and
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: my brother. I remember my dad actually enjoying Mortal Kombat,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: which was shocking. Another movie he enjoyed that was shocking,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: came out in nineteen ninety seven. Ninety seven was a
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: great year for movies, particularly.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: In the summer.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: We're talking about summer releases. I'm not just talking about
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: random movies. I'm talking about the importance as a kid
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: of the summer blockbuster, and a lot of these are
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: superhero driven, and the one that jumps to mind from
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety seven, there's a few, but Men in Black
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: and Spawn, both based off of comic books. And I
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: remember my dad loving Spawn, which is very shocking because
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: it's honestly not that good of a movie, but he
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: really liked it, and I was so looking forward to
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: that one. I watched the HBO series of Spawn at
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: a hotel the year prior, and I was hooked. And
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: I had magazines, and again that's something that was very
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: important because you didn't have the Internet. The Internet was
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: in its infancy and we had AOL, you know, but
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: you can't really get images on that. Magazines were very
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: important for spreading the word of movies and behind the
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: scenes stories and making of and you know, release schedules,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: and I was so looking forward to Spawn, and it
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: really lived up to the hype. Men in Black Also
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: prior to that, I remember seeing Men in Black in
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: July of nineteen ninety seven, and earlier in the year
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: I rented a movie called Jerry Maguire and they had
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: a preview for Men in Black, and I remember telling
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: my dad, we got to see this this and it
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: lived up to all the expectations.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: This got me thinking. Also, I mentioned Jurassic Park was
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: the first summer blockbuster I remember, and I actually take
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: that back because the year prior, in nineteen ninety two,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: and this is a very very faint memory, but I
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: do remember it. I went to go see Batman Returns
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: at a drive in movie theater.
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: If you always wanted to get your hands on Batman,
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: drop into McDonald's. Batman Returns is on a dramatic series
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: of thirty two months collector cups with five Frisbeef bat
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: desk lids straight from the movie.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: You can pick up a large drink.
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: In one of six superhero collector cups at a special
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: times when you buy the the extra value here because
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: what you want is what you get at McDonalds today.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: And when you're a kid, an experience like that is
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: something you will never forget. I was three and a
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: half years old and Batman was my world and going
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: to a drive in movie theater, which doesn't exist for
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: the most part. You know, in Pennsylvania they.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Have a few. There's a bunch scattered about the world,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: but not what it was.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Even in the nineties, it wasn't really a thing. You know,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: in the fifties and sixties it was everywhere. That was
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: a big thing. The drive in movie theory. You take
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: your sweetheart to the drive in and make out. But
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: when you're a kid, the movie theater screen is gigantic.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: You know, everything is bigger when you're a kid, but
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: imagine what a drive in theater screen which was just,
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: you know, monumentally bigger than a normal screen because it
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: needed to be because you're so far away, your car
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: is parked, and you need to be able to see
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: this from pretty far distance. So this is something that
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: really stuck with me, just the size of this theater.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: And I remember little things from that night. I remember
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: my family interact with the family next to us because
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: we had to figure out how to get sound. You
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: had to tune in to a certain radio station to
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: get the sound playing through your car. It was such
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: a novel concept. I really wish something that I got
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: to do again. But it's been almost well it's been
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: over thirty years now since the last drive in theater
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: that I went to. But I remember loving Batman returns.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: I remember going to the toy store the next day
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: and getting Batman action figures. And Batman is one of
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: those properties that tends to have their movies come out
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: in the summertime. The original Batman from eighty nine was
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: a huge success. Batmania was running wild, and I remember
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: being very hyped for Batman Forever in nineteen ninety five,
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: and I actually enjoyed that movie. And again I think
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: I'm in the minority with that, but I do enjoy
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Batman Forever from nineteen ninety five, another conic summer movie
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: of my childhood. Let's flash forward, though, to some movies
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: within the last twenty years. The Dark Knight in the
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: summer of two thousand and eight was something everyone and
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: their mother was hyped for. I think with the passing
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: of Heath Ledger this added even more of an aura
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: for this film. I think it was still gonna be
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: a giant success, but I don't think it would have
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: had the success if it didn't have the unfortunate passing
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: of Heath Ledger behind it. I think people were morbidly
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: curious to see this role that some people say pushed
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: him over the edge. I don't believe that, but there
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: was that morbid curiosity of this is this guy's.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: You know, last role.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: I know there were some other movies that were released
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: after Batman The Dark Knight, but this was such a
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: great movie, lived up to all the expectations, and then
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: The Dark Knight one of those like summer movies for sure.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm just going through the rolodex in
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: my head. What are some big movies that I remember
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: watching during the Summer Signs was a big one. I
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: remember seeing that multiple times in the summer. I believe
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: that was two thousand and two. Horror movies are always
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: great during the summer. Another aspect of the summer movie
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: and why it's so important, especially back in the day,
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of people didn't have air conditioners. That was
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: actually a selling point for a lot of people to
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: go to the movies. So, oh, how do you get
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: out of a ninety five degree day? You have a
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: shitty fan that's barely blowing anything at you, hot air
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: just blowing in your face. We can escape to the
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: air conditioner. That was actually a selling point for a
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: lot of movie theaters is, oh, we have air conditioners,
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: have some cool drinks and refreshments, and be in the
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: cool air conditioned room while watching this feature film.
• 30:55
  Speaker 7: Yes, you lucky people, just sit back for a moment relax.
• 31:00
  Speaker 7: I noticed the delight of a clean, cool, and refreshing
• 31:04
  Speaker 7: atmosphere of this scientifically air conditioned thinter. Great, isn't it.
• 31:09
  Speaker 7: Remember you can enjoy great motion picture entertainment all summer
• 31:14
  Speaker 7: long in cool comfort at this theinter.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: So you know, I love the summer movies as a
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: kid like I said, they've grown to be something that
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: I don't like nearly as much I could be, you know,
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: just a jaded, old piece of trash. I don't know
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: if that's the reasoning as to why I don't like
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: them as much. I think I gave fair reasons as
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: to why I don't care for them. I just think
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: everything's been done no originality, and I like the more
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: slower paced films with story driven type of stories, and
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: you don't really get that in the summertime. Another big
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: thing for the summertime we talked about, you know, horror
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: movies are big. Animated movies are gigantic in the summer.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: That's usually what wins the summer box office these days
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: is an animated movie. Some Juggernauts have come out in
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: recent years. All the Pixar movies tend to come out
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: during the summertime. The Toy Story sequels, a lot of
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: them have been summer releases.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: A lot of Pixar movies, like.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I mentioned, have that Lion King, what was a gigantic
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: kit in the summer of nineteen ninety four, the super
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Mario Brothers movie from last year, or what was I
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: a few years ago? Now at this point huge hit.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: You know, the animated movies. You get the kids, and
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: you know they're not in school, so you get a
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: lot of these summertime releases being gear towards kids. I'm
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: hoping this summer, as I'm recording, there's a lot of
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: movies I actually am looking forward to. I'm hoping we
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: get a good summer season this year. I'll have my
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: reviews later on in the year. I'll have my list
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: of my favorite movies of the year. But you know,
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to another Jurassic film. We got a
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Fantastic Four movie which looks pretty good. Superman, I hope
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: we get a good one on the big screen in
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: my lifetime. I'm also really looking forward to the twenty
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: eight Days Later sequel. We got twenty eight Years Later,
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: which looks like it's going to be, in my opinion,
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: my favorite movie of the summer. But that's neither here
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: nor now. But this was just a look back at
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: some of my favorite memories moments while watching movies throughout
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: the summertime. It's a tradition that everybody has done, and
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: it's something I'll continue to do and I'm hoping. I'm
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: hopeful even though I'm a jaded asshole. I'm hopeful that
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: we do return to the glory years of original properties
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: and just great summer movies. This has been the film
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: reel right here on the Recess Belt Network.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you all for listening.